In the state of Texas, there is a new requirement that all engineers who renew an active professional engineering license, and all new applicants for licensure in the state, complete a one-time Criminal History Record Check.

Both engineers and lumber dealers typically rely on an engineering design software program—often from an engineered wood supplier—to analyze loads as the first step of the takeoff process. Some dealers send the plans to a software-equipped truss plant to make the call instead.

The movement to construct tall buildings largely with wood as an environmentally friendlier alternative to steel and concrete has received a boost from an unusual source — a leading architectural firm known for its towers of steel and concrete.